Newsletter

Shaving demo shows son you can't be too careful

My teenage son got a new razor, and his mother suggested I show him how to use it.

She did this in her usual subtle manner by asking (aloud) "I wonder if someone should show him how to use it?"

He had been using an electric razor I bought him for Christmas a few years ago.

"It should be pretty simple," I said looking up from my paper, and recalling my own experiences at his age with the cold, metal Gillette "safety" razor.

But, she gave me that look, so I went upstairs to provide a demonstration.

His new razor looks like a futuristic plastic accessory to something important.

It has a curved, ergonomic handle and is a purple-blue color that resembles the toy action figures I was buying him only a few years ago.

"It's simple," I said simply.

Then I lathered and began to shave -- something I have done thousands of times.

The razor was sharp. New ones always are.

And somewhere in the rapid removal of small, gray whiskers, I nicked myself.

Twice.

I blame those daily half-aspirins the doctor advises. I think they make me prone to facial bleeding.

My son didn't seem to notice. Even when I went back downstairs with two tiny bits of tissue stuck on my face halting the hemorrhages.

His mother saw them, though.

She shook her head.

"Good thing you weren't the one showing him how to drive," she said.

Sharply.

TODAY'S JOKE: When the home printer's type began to grow faint, a man called a local repair shop where a friendly man informed him that the printer probably needed only to be cleaned. Because the store charged $50 for such cleanings, he told him, "You might be better off reading the printer's manual and trying the job yourself."

Pleasantly surprised by his candor, the customer asked, "Does your boss know that you discourage business?"

"Actually it's my boss's idea," the employee replied sheepishly. "We usually make more money on repairs if we let people try to fix things themselves first."